Go Back  Quiltingboard Forums >
  • Main
  • Estimating thread useage? What would you do? >
  • Estimating thread useage? What would you do?

  • Estimating thread useage? What would you do?

    Thread Tools
     
    Old 10-22-2013, 08:07 AM
      #11  
    Senior Member
    Thread Starter
     
    Join Date: Oct 2011
    Location: Iowa
    Posts: 816
    Default

    Originally Posted by ghostrider
    It was worth a shot...and since my phone is 15 years old, I have no way to use it either.
    Maybe someone searching the threads later on will find it. It does seem like a handy app for bed quilts.
    Skittl1321 is offline  
    Old 10-22-2013, 08:08 AM
      #12  
    Super Member
     
    gale's Avatar
     
    Join Date: Apr 2007
    Location: North-Central Indiana
    Posts: 4,909
    Default

    I have the same app on my android phone. It does have the option of selecting lightly quilted, moderately quilted or heavily quilted. When I put in twin size and heavily quilted, it gave me the amount of 1200 yards for top thread only. Double it for both. Moderately quilted in the twin size said 800 yards.
    gale is offline  
    Old 10-22-2013, 08:21 AM
      #13  
    Senior Member
    Thread Starter
     
    Join Date: Oct 2011
    Location: Iowa
    Posts: 816
    Default

    Originally Posted by gale
    I have the same app on my android phone. It does have the option of selecting lightly quilted, moderately quilted or heavily quilted. When I put in twin size and heavily quilted, it gave me the amount of 1200 yards for top thread only. Double it for both. Moderately quilted in the twin size said 800 yards.
    Thanks for testing it. These numbers won't work for me. Like I said- I used 6,000 meters on a 48" square quilt. So apparently I am way past heavily quilted.

    So with 7 colors, it seems like I should be able to use 1,000 meters each, but I just don't know if I should get the cones instead. It doubles the cost, but the cost per meter is much better.
    Skittl1321 is offline  
    Old 10-22-2013, 08:36 AM
      #14  
    Super Member
     
    gale's Avatar
     
    Join Date: Apr 2007
    Location: North-Central Indiana
    Posts: 4,909
    Default

    One person's "heavily quilted" probably differs from another. I haven't actually used the app yet (except just now. lol) but maybe I'll keep track of how much thread I use in a "normally quilted for me" lap quilt and write it down somewhere.
    gale is offline  
    Old 10-22-2013, 09:12 AM
      #15  
    Power Poster
     
    Join Date: May 2009
    Location: NY
    Posts: 10,590
    Default

    Originally Posted by Skittl1321
    Thanks for the recommendation: have you had any breakage issues with it? The design will require a lot of travel stitching, so that is a worry with a 'cheap' thread.
    No breakage. Loads of travelling. On the quilt pictured here it is the green and the blue thread.
    http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...t-t230619.html

    The quilt measures 90 x 90 or therabouts. You can see I did quite a bit of heavy quilting in the green with all that back and forth fill behind the diamonds. I barely put a dent in the small 1000 meter cone. The white in this quilt is glide. I used magnaglide bobbins so didn't use any of this thread in the bobbin. I went through about 20 magnaglide bobbins so that would increase my usage of cone considerably. I just went and checked how much glide is on a magnaglide delight bobbin. I went through 20 so this quilt used approximately 2,640 yards for just the bobbin, double that for both so a bit over 5,000 yards (which is close enough to a meter we can practically interchange the measurements in this example). I would probably classify this quilt as medium amount of quilting. There is some pebbling in the center and the backfill in the green I would consider heavily quilted.

    If you went through 6000 meters on a 48" square, I would say that is probably VERY heavily quilted and in places flirting with thread painting. Of course loads of traveling will do that too, like lots and lots of pebbling.

    Last edited by feline fanatic; 10-22-2013 at 09:27 AM.
    feline fanatic is offline  
    Old 10-22-2013, 09:18 AM
      #16  
    Senior Member
    Thread Starter
     
    Join Date: Oct 2011
    Location: Iowa
    Posts: 816
    Default

    Originally Posted by feline fanatic
    No breakage. Loads of travelling.
    Beautiful quilt! Thanks for replying.

    The level of quilting in the diamonds is what most of the quilt will be covered with, but it will be smaller.
    Skittl1321 is offline  
    Old 10-22-2013, 10:28 AM
      #17  
    Senior Member
     
    Join Date: Sep 2013
    Location: Saskatchewan
    Posts: 838
    Default

    Are these thread colours that you would use again? If so, I would definitely bite the bullet and get the large cones of at least three colours, making sure that they are the ones with the largest area in the quilt, and assuming I can use them in other areas if I run short. If no substituting can be done, or they really are all equal, I would get the large cones of all.

    I try to do risk/benefit analysis in these cases: I would be mildly disgruntled about paying twice as much for the thread. On the other hand, if I ran out, had to reorder, then wait for it to come in, and waste money on a second shipping charge, I would be really, really unhappy. So, I would pay up front to avoid the possible annoyance later.

    At your Isacord prices, you're spending an extra $24.50 to get the 5000m spools. To me, the hours you're going to put into quilting this thing are worth way more than that. And you're getting an extra 28000m of thread... the more I think about it, the more the sure I am that the big spools are the way I would go!

    This sounds like it's going to be an amazing quilt. Be sure to post pictures when you get it done!
    Jennifer23 is offline  
    Old 10-22-2013, 10:48 AM
      #18  
    Senior Member
    Thread Starter
     
    Join Date: Oct 2011
    Location: Iowa
    Posts: 816
    Default

    Originally Posted by Jennifer23
    This sounds like it's going to be an amazing quilt. Be sure to post pictures when you get it done!
    I hope it will be... It is going to take probably a year or more for me to do though, so it will be awhile.

    Thanks for your thoughts on the thread.

    Here is a mock up of what my concept is- the background will be all black on black quilting. I'm thinking about putting black metallic feathers in the background, and am still trying to decide if I want to do trapunto and have a 'thick' circle, instead of just a single line like below. These thread colors aren't very accurate RGB/CMY they were just what I had on hand.
    Attached Thumbnails photo-4.jpg  
    Skittl1321 is offline  
    Old 10-22-2013, 11:06 AM
      #19  
    Power Poster
     
    Join Date: Feb 2009
    Location: Northern Michigan
    Posts: 12,861
    Default

    I would spend some time shopping around to find a better shipping deal. there are a lot of shops out there that offer free shipping at reasonable levels (like $35-$50) and also shops that actually charge actual shipping instead of a flat amount across the board. if you call them they may also work with you on the shipping- be willing to put the thread in a priority envelope that costs about $3.95 to send. I have found when I've taken the time to call a shop they are (most of the time) willing to work with you on shipping- if they are not I usually find somewhere else to get what I need.
    ckcowl is offline  
    Old 10-22-2013, 11:10 AM
      #20  
    Senior Member
    Thread Starter
     
    Join Date: Oct 2011
    Location: Iowa
    Posts: 816
    Default

    Originally Posted by ckcowl
    I would spend some time shopping around to find a better shipping deal.
    If anyone has recommendations, I'd take them.
    I know one place that offers $5 shipping, but the thread is $5.25 for 1000 meters, or 15.80 for 5000 meters, so a lot more expensive for the thread, and even with shipping, it comes out ahead the other place.
    Skittl1321 is offline  
    Related Topics
    Thread
    Thread Starter
    Forum
    Replies
    Last Post
    DresiArnaz
    Main
    23
    01-23-2019 09:21 PM
    sewingeveryday
    Main
    9
    01-13-2019 10:36 PM
    Bataplai
    Main
    7
    03-04-2013 07:02 AM
    love to sew
    Main
    7
    02-24-2012 04:13 AM
    JenelTX
    Main
    11
    11-25-2011 02:11 PM

    Posting Rules
    You may not post new threads
    You may not post replies
    You may not post attachments
    You may not edit your posts

    BB code is On
    Smilies are On
    [IMG] code is On
    HTML code is On
    Trackbacks are Off
    Pingbacks are Off
    Refbacks are Off



    FREE Quilting Newsletter